Hello, Pretty!
by CatWingsAthena
Summary: After the events of The Doctor's Wife, the TARDIS crew encounters an unexpected guest.


**A/N: This is my first attempt at fanfiction. Please R & R!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.**

"Doctor," Amy inquired during a moment of quiet in the TARDIS, "has it ever occurred to you that we have entirely too many squash courts? What is it now, six of them? They're everywhere-last night I ran into one when I was looking for the loo. And you deleted the swimming pool? Couldn't you have just deleted squash courts, oh, three through seven and called it good?"

"Actually, we have eleven. I deleted a squash court at random, no surprise that it wasn't numerically the last. Anyway, nobody liked the swimming pool," replied the Doctor.

"Um, actually, I liked the swimming pool," Rory intoned.

"What for?"

"Swimming?"

"Hmm. Makes sense, I suppose." The Doctor began to circle the console, pulling levers and pushing buttons. "I could restore the swimming pool by tapping into the TARDIS archive if I free up some temporo-spatial energy by deleting some other rooms-Amelia Pond, you are brilliant!" The Doctor paused his frantic darting around the console, grabbed Amy's face, and kissed her on the forehead before continuing to dash about in a swirl of manic energy. "Get rid of the extra squash courts and bring back the swimming pool-kill two birds with one stone! Although, actually, we're not killing anything. And there are no stones involved. Also, no birds. Oh, forget I said that! Anyway-"

The doctor pulled back on a lever. A shudder ran through the TARDIS, in concert with an unearthly noise that echoed from all around, knocking Amy and Rory off their feet. When it was over, atop Rory's stomach in the midst of the chaotic control room, there sat a bunny.

The creature was not actually a bunny, strictly speaking. In fact, it rather resembled a cross between an overgrown baby rabbit, a Pomeranian, a flying squirrel, and a chinchilla. It was grey and white, it had huge black eyes, and it was almost obscenely fluffy. It was also perched on Rory's chest, snuffling at his face with its unreasonably adorable nose.

"Hellooo, pretty!" it declared.

"Oh!" said the Doctor. "So that's where you got to!"

"Um, excuse me," interjected Rory in a hesitant tone, "but why is there a giant, talking _bunny rabbit_ sitting on me? Where did it come from?"

"Hellooo, pretty!" it repeated.

"And why is it saying that?" Rory asked, mildly exasperated.

"That, Rory Pond," said the Doctor as he scanned the creature, "is a Nadii, native to the planet Kiikaluusizishir. Must have snuck on board during my last visit and hidden in one of the squash courts. I _thought_ I saw something last time I was down there... Anyway, when the squash court it was hiding in was deleted, the safeguard kicked in and brought the Nadii here. As to why it's saying that...is that a phrase you've heard recently?"

"Well...when the TARDIS woman sent me the telepathic message, that was the first thing she said," Rory suggested.

"Oh, telepathy! Of course, that would explain it. The message is still in your head. Nadii are telepathic-they pick up on the words in your head and use them to communicate. It's supposed to make you feel at ease. Personally I find it a bit unsettling-but then, I had a bad experience with a telepathic repeaty-thing once." The Doctor shuddered. "Anyway, it likes you. Repeating is good manners in their culture-say the words back."

"Um, hello, pretty," said Rory, looking a tad embarrassed. Amy grinned.

"Hellooo, pretty!" the Nadii repeated enthusiastically.

"Glad to see you're getting on," said the Doctor, waving his hands about with glee. "Now, let's get you home! Kiikaluusizishir, here we come!"

The Nadii turned to the Doctor. "Please, don't," it said.

"Please don't," said the Doctor, immediately regretting it.

Amy gave the Nadii a curious look. "Were you just reading his thoughts," she asked, "or do you not want to go home?"

"Not want to go home. This is _so_ weird," the Nadii replied.

"This is _so-_ never mind," said Amy. "Why don't you want to go home? Are you in trouble?"

The Nadii was silent.

"Are you _not_ in trouble?" amended Rory.

"Not in trouble," it said.

"All right," said the doctor, looking slightly uneasy. "You can use all the words in my head. Don't worry, we won't consider it rude if you don't repeat exactly. Why don't you want to go home?"

The Nadii thought for a minute.

"Bored," it finally said.

"Bored? You're bored of your home planet?"

"Yes."

The Doctor smiled. "I think," he said with a spreading smile, "I can fix that."

...

"Wow," said Amy some time later as she stared at the Cat's Eye Nebula. "That is beautiful."

"That is beautiful," the Nadii confirmed.

"Ready to go home now?" asked the Doctor, tilting his head to one side.

"Ready to go home".

The Doctor didn't even flinch. "All right then," he said. "Let's go."

...

"Goodbye!" said Amy, waving as the Nadii hopped away from the TARDIS doors.

"Goodbye! You're really cute!" it called back.

"You're really cute!" Amy politely affirmed.

As the doors closed, Rory and Amy began giggling.

"What is it?", asked the doctor, looking baffled.

"Nothing," they said at virtually the same time.

"I, for one," said Rory, "am very glad my thoughts mostly stay _inside_ my head."

"Well," the Doctor responded. "I know what you're thinking right now."

"And what's that?" inquired Rory skeptically.

"You're wondering if I actually brought back the swimming pool."

"Okay, that's scary", said Amy, "because that's what _I_ was thinking."

"Did you, then?" asked Rory.

"Well, to tell the truth..."

"You didn't, did you," said Amy.

"Actually, I have absolutely no idea."

"In that case," said Amy, "let's see if we can find it."

"Excellent idea," declared the Doctor as he rapidly about-faced and strode off down one of the corridors. "Come along, Ponds!"


End file.
